IFN-producing killer dendritic cells are antigen-presenting cells endowed with T-cell cross-priming capacity

Maria Pletneva, Hongni Fan, Jang June Park, Vedran Radojcic, Chunfa Charles Jie, Yanxing Yu, Camie Chan, Alec Redwood, Drew Pardoll, Franck Housseau

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

24 Scopus citations

Abstract

IFN-producing killer dendritic cells (IKDC) represent a recently discovered cell type in the immune system that possesses a number of functions contributing to innate and adaptive immunity, including production of type 1and 2 IFNs, interleukin (IL)-12, natural killing, and ultimately antigen presentation to naïve T cells. Here, we compared in vitro and in vivo responses of mouse IKDC, conventional dendritic cells (DC), and natural killer (NK) cells to murine cytomegalovirus infection and found distinct functions among these cell subsets. Upon recognition of infected fibroblasts, IKDC, as well as NK, produced high level of IFN-γ, but unlike NK, IKDC simultaneously produced IL-12p40 and up-regulated MHC class II (MHC-II) and costimulatory molecules. Using MHC-II molecule expression as a phenotypic marker to distinguish activated IKDC from activated NK, we further showed that highly purified MHC-II+ IKDC but not NK cross-present MHC class I-restricted antigens derived from MCMV-infected targets to CD8+ T cells in vitro and in vivo. Our findings emphasize the unique nature of IKDC as a killer antigen-presenting cell directly linking innate and adaptive immunity.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)6607-6614
Number of pages8
JournalCancer Research
Volume69
Issue number16
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 15 2009

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Oncology
  • Cancer Research

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